The invention relates to foot supporting rolling devices such as in-line skates and roller skis.
In-line skates have small narrow wheels positioned one after the other, i.e., in-line, and are used for both recreation and for general aerobic conditioning. Roller skis generally have two wheels and are mainly used for training by competitive cross-country and Alpine skiers in the non-snow seasons.
In-line skates can have brake mechanisms that typically frictionally engage either a wheel or the rolling surface, e.g., the road surface. In one type of brake mechanism, a skater's foot is moved forward to cause brake activation by pivoting of an upper cuff of the skate shell. In-line skates can also be provided with slower or faster wheels to adjust rolling resistance, i.e., the natural rolling resistance of the in-line skate when not being decelerated by a frictional brake.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,071 describes a speed reducing device that employs a roller that is forced against a wheel of an in-line skate or roller ski with an adjustable force to provide different amounts of rolling resistance.